Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 19, 1993                   TAG: 9308190236
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN VIRGINIA

MANASSAS - A suspect in a series of rapes was arrested Wednesday after a motorist recognized his vehicle and called police, a Prince William County police spokeswoman said.

Troy Allen Ehardt, 26, of Bealeton, was charged with three counts of rape and one count of attempted rape, police spokeswoman Kim Chinn said.

Ehardt was driving along Virginia 28 on Tuesday when a motorist recognized his car from news reports, Chinn said. The motorist called in Ehardt's license plate numbers to police.

About 15 minutes later, one of the women who had reported being raped told police she also had spotted Ehardt in traffic. It was not immediately clear whether she had given police information leading to Ehardt's arrest.

Chinn says Ehardt was being held without bond pending an arraignment today.

The attacks occurred during the early morning or evening hours, Chinn said. Typically, the man had grabbed female joggers or walkers and pulled them out of sight before raping them.

In several of the attacks, which mostly have occurred in the last month, the man has been armed with a knife, Chinn said.

- Associated Press

Movie brings Jabbar, James Earl Jones to Va.

RICHMOND - Actor James Earl Jones and former basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are in Virginia filming "The Vernon Johns Story."

The television movie is based on the life of the Rev. Vernon Johns, a Virginia native who was one of the unsung heroes of the civil rights movement, the Virginia Film Office said.

Filming by New York-based Laurel Entertainment began this week in Richmond and will later move to Petersburg's Old Towne. The office said filming in Olde Towne would take place despite an Aug. 6 tornado that destroyed many buildings in the historic area.

"It is very meaningful to me that Virginia will be involved in telling the story of Vernon Johns, a great orator and educator," Gov. Douglas Wilder said. He said the production could boost Petersburg's economy after the devastating tornado, which killed four people and injured nearly 200.

Jones is portraying Johns, who preceded Martin Luther King Jr. as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.

- Associated Press

11-year-old convicted in sodomy of 2 boys

RICHMOND - An 11-year-old boy has been convicted of two counts of sodomy for sexual assaults on two 7-year-old boys.

Judge Robert J. Smith of Henrico County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court set sentencing for Oct. 29.

For an adult, the convictions could have meant sentences of up to two life terms. But because the defendant is a juvenile, the most severe sentence he could is receive is incarceration in a detention home until age 21.

Smith ordered a psychological evaluation of the defendant and ordered social services workers to study his family. He also told the youth's mother and stepfather that the boy must remain under their supervision at all times unless he is at school.

"We are here to help you as much as these other young men," Smith told the boy.

- Associated Press